1. She came while we were in the plains of al-Baṭḥāʼ
And the night was spreading the darkness of gloom,

2. So she saw the mirrors of souls bloodied
By the hands of misfortunes, insistently importunate.

3. And when she offered us her baking,
The horizons of the white land were closed off by them.

4. O soil of Umayma, how you folded up the porches of gloom
In every murky, pitch-black expanse!

5. If only you had feared the meteors when they bargained
And turned to you with the eyes of spies!

6. You penetrated the darkness, and your brow distilled
A dawn that nodded off upon you in lights.

7. So you knocked on ribs that harbored agony
That the eyelids were unable to discern - no, they could not distinguish any illness.

8. With aromas, when they blew on her,
Of the memory of the beloved, our entrails were roused.

9. By the cleft in your cheek, so brazen
It is as though it were a love-spot on swarthy skin!

10. And your sick, healthy eyelids never shed
Illness - no, they never shed any sickness.

11. I will go against the passions of the celibate one -
For so long rancor has led to temptation through him.

12. And when hearts moved about, their intoxications
Moved about in singing girls.

13. My eyes pursued no one but you, and my heart
Did not divert from you however passions divided.

14. And the least that the foolhardiness of youth paused for
Was a halt that seized the reins of tears through sincerity.

15. The vestiges of your encampment appeared to us, humbled,
Its splendor increasing through desolation.

16. The abodes of my father - decay has walked in them
And their landmarks have crumbled away except for ruins.

17. The clouds weep over them while its meadows smile -
Ever wavering between smiling and crying.

18. Our she-camels stopped at them, so we recognized them,
And we stayed our yearning for the land of Mecca and Mashʻar.

19. We shook from their sides as if their ears
Were filled with the echo of singing.

20. So I descended and lay down on the earth, writhing
In it with the writhing of a smooth serpent.

21. With the scent of basil that you placed in it,
The hems of my cloak and gown were perfumed.

22. It was as though I was kissing the sanctuary of the Imam
From its elevated threshold, exalted.

23. Where the white foreheads touch its soil humbly
And its awe inspires love in the great.

24. Compared to it, the hunts of royal kings are too short,
Yet the tongues of poets go on about it.

25. A king whose branches grew in the prophets
And whose lineage was purified through the caliphs.

26. He reached the ultimate point while his venerable age
Matured despite the blindness of opinions.

27. So the flock took refuge in his shade,
Hoping for life-giving rain and awe-inspiring lion.

28. And the lairs of lions in his days
Were like the resting-places of foxes through justice.

29. He filled the land with brigades who had suckled
Only the milk of mighty, unyielding glory.

30. They hasten into the fray with swords
Whose unsheathing mingled the fragrance of musk with the smell of blood.

31. Their scabbards were not emptied except wherever
A target was bared to be sheathed in the flesh of foes.

32. From every long-necked lion, drawing
The train of its tawny mane in nobility.

33. The effect of his spear flows in veins
Like a serpent swimming in the expanse of water.

34. He took rights through them and gave them together,
While rationality lies between taking and giving.

35. O son of the Intercessor to Life, the branches
Of the singing garden have been clothed in rags.

36. So the clouds approached and the downpour almost
Flowed through its hands behind the pouring rain.

37. If it were not for him, the gardens would not smell
With their blossoms the idea of blessings.

38. Your awe which left the rage of the sword
In the skulls was created to overawe hearts.

39. And Naḍā, your vizier, in his resolution, is enough
To undertake the rising of a flame-like lion.

40. He repels whoever troubles him with their hatred,
Deadened of limbs from fear of death.

41. And he hits the mark of archery if any
Suspicion appears, fearful with terror.

42. It is as though the secrets of hearts shade him
With their concealments, messages of news.

43. He strives and labors hard for your satisfaction even if
The souls boil against him with enmity.

44. And if time brings a perplexing disaster,
He undertakes consuming the brilliant scheme.

45. And the inspiration of the caliphs in what they attempt
Is coupled with the competence of viziers.

46. You two are still draped in a glory
Whose ends are trailing upon favors.